Trento, 20 March 2024

Champions League, on Thursday in Civitanova (8.30 P.M.) the return semifinal

On Thursday, March 21 at the Eurosuole Forum in Civitanova Marche, the return match of the 2024 CEV Champions League semifinal will be played - the last round before the Final on 4/5 May (venue still to be announced). Trentino Itas will be on stage on the court of Cucine Lube, already beaten 3-1 in the first leg, to try and gain qualification. Kick-off is scheduled for 8:30 pm; live coverage on Radio Dolomiti and DAZN.
HERE TRENTINO ITAS After the promising result obtained seven days ago at home, the Gialloblù are back on court to try and get the pass for the Final of the highest continental competition, already played twice in the last three editions. To do so, they will need to win at least two sets, bearing in mind that in order to pass the round it is necessary to obtain at least one point, or to secure the golden set at the end of the official match should the hosts win it 3-0 or 3-1.
"The result of the first match is undoubtedly positive but, in fact, it only serves to keep our chances of qualification intact in view of the match to be played in Civitanova Marche - explained coach Fabio Soli - . If we want to clinch the pass for the Final, we will need the same attitude we showed in Trento last Wednesday: humble, determined, and resilient against a top-level opponent that showed, just a few days ago against Monza in Game 3 of the Play Off quarterfinals, how dangerous it can be in front of their own crowd".
The players reached Civitanova Marche at lunchtime, where they will train in the evening; for this crucial away match Trento’s coach has brought along all fifteen current players on the roster; only the injured Riccardo Sbertoli will have to remain in the stands.
TRENTINO VOLLEY'S NUMBERS IN EUROPE This is the eighth Champions League semi-final in the history of Trentino Volley. Since 2021, when the penultimate act of the tournament started being based on two matches (home first leg, away return) and no longer on a single match to be played on a neutral court during a Final Four (as happened in the first five yellow-blue semifinals), Trentino Volley has always clashed with an Italian team. The challenge with Civitanova comes after the 2021 and 2022 semi-finals played against Perugia. The Club from via Trener also has a special feeling for the semifinals of the event, having managed to qualify for the final on six of the previous seven occasions: 2009 (3-0 over Macerata in Prague), 2010 (3-1 over Bled in Lodz), 2011 (3-0 over Jastrzebski), 2016 (3-0 over Civitanova), 2021 (3-0 and 2-3 with Perugia) and 2022 (3-2 and 2-3 with Perugia, golden set winner). The only knockout was in 2012 (1-3 with Kazan in Lodz). The other double-round semi-finals played in European competitions by Trentino Volley were in the CEV Cup, all won: 2015 edition (3-2 and 3-1 over Kedzierzyn-Kozle), 2017 (3-0 and 2-3 over Fenerbahce), and 2019 (3-0 and 3-1 over Olympiacos). Considering all the continental events played, Trentino Volley has so far taken part in 171 official matches. The tally is 137 victories (70 in Trento, 67 away) and 34 defeats (28 in the Champions League, 5 in CEV and 1 in the Top Teams Cup).  The most frequently achieved result is the 3-0 victory, in 49% of cases (83 matches); the one that occurred least frequently is the 0-3 defeat (eight times).
THE OPPONENTS The success in Game 3 of the Play Off Scudetto quarter-finals, achieved on Sunday evening at home against Monza, has allowed Cucine Lube Civitanova to stay in the running on two fronts: Play Off Scudetto and Champions League. Thursday's in-or-out match could open or close the doors to the fourth Champions League Final in the history of the Marche-based club, which has played eight semi-finals, including the current one. Compared to what happens in the Italian league, in all international matches coach Gianlorenzo Blengini can use all his firepower without any kind of limitation on the number of foreigners on court at the same time. So, there could be room for both the high-ball trio Lagumdzija (146 points in the competition), Nikolov (25 points in the first leg) and Yant (27 points on Sunday evening), and French middle blocker Chinenyeze. The recovery of Zaytsev (completed a week ago, the Italian spiker was in the starting six last Sunday against Monza) offers an additional alternative for Lube’s coach.
TRENTINO ITAS QUALIFIES FOR THE FINAL IF... Trentino Itas needs to win (at least) two sets in Thursday night's match in order to qualify for the Champions League Final; thanks to the 3-1 win in the first match at the ilT quotidiano Arena, the yellow-blue team can afford to lose in the tie break to avoid the golden set, which would only be played if the Marche team wins a maximum of four instalments. Whoever wins will face the winner of Jastrzebski-Ziraat Ankara (3-0 in the first match, the return will be played tonight at the home of the Turks) in the final on 4/5 May (venue still to be announced).
PREVIOUS MATCHES Cucine Lube is the opponent that Trentino Volley has faced the most times: 98, with a 53-45 record in favour of the team from Marche, but this season the trend is yellow-blue thanks to three victories in as many matches played: two in the SuperLega (3-0 on December 3 at the Eurosuole Forum, and 3-1 on February 14 at the ilT quotidiano Arena) and one in the first leg of the Champions League (3-1 with scores of 25-17, 16-25, 25-18, 25-23). Competing in a semifinal against Civitanova has now become a constant, even in the international field; in total, Trentino Volley and Cucine Lube have played twelve semifinal matches against each other, distributed in this way: once in the Club World Championship (2021), three in the Champions League (2009, 2016 and 2024), four in the Play Off Scudetto (2010, 2019, 2021, 2022), three in the Coppa Italia (2016, 2019 and 2020) and one in the Supercoppa italiana (2020). Trento's balance sheet is of four passages of the round and seven eliminations. The Club of via Trener has managed to prevail in thirteen of the forty-two matches played on enemy court, conquering the Eurosuole Forum in four of the last eleven circumstances, also taking into account the victories in the Play Off on 28 March 2021 and 14 April 2022 and the one in the previous regular season (21 January 2023).
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Michail Koutsoulas, the first Greek referee from Athens, and Bruno Muha, second Croatian referee from Zagreb. The only one of the two to have directed a Trentino Volley match is the latter; Muha has crossed the yellow-blue colours on two occasions, both in the calendar year 2023: January 11 (victory in three sets in Roeselare) and January 25 (3-2 in Kedzierzyn-Kozle).
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be broadcast live on Radio Dolomiti, Trentino Volley's radio partner, starting at 20:30. The frequencies to tune in to the regional network can be found on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will also be possible to listen to the live radio commentary in streaming.
Live video streaming is also planned on DAZN, a platform available on a wide range of Internet-connected devices, including Smart TVs, PCs, smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. The service, which requires registration, will be free of charge in this case; for more information www.dazn.com/it-IT/home/c4bvxbu42fs2m80bvvteaqmfo.
On the Internet, point-to-point updates will be provided by the CEV website (www.cev.eu/match-centres/2024-european-cups/cev-champions-league-volley-2024-men/clvm-106-cucine-lube-civitanova-v-trentino-itas/), by www.trentinovolley.it and will also be active on the Gialloblù social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office